Ship owners and operators are betting their future profitability on super-sized container ships and must delay deliveries of additional vessels to avoid overcapacity and plunging rates, a European shipping bank warns in a research report.
Orders for 8,000-TEU-plus ships peaked in 2007 at 181 vessels of 2 million TEUs before drying up when the market crashed during the 2008-2009 recession. Now some owners are again placing super-post-Panamax orders. Most are for vessels under 10,000 TEUs, although Maersk Line was reported recently to be in advanced discussion with Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding to order 10 ships of 18,000-TEU capacity.